December 31, 2013

HEEEELLO FAMILIA!!!

Well...it was a...well, completely honestly, it was a difficult week. Christmas is a LOT different here than it is there. It's basically an excuse to drink. I'll just say this...those who think it's ok to hit their children in ANY form...well...I sincerely hope they get theirs. It's the MOST COWARDLY thing a person could EVER do. With that being said, I'll let your imagination wander on what might have happened to us this week.

 

Our Christmas gift from the lady who gave us dinner!

Other than that, I am incredibly glad I am with Elder Haertel. I seriously love the guy a ton. This week we were just walking along the street when he stopped, looked at me, said, "What I'm about to do is SUPER awesome." He walked over to a family who was sitting on an outside table eating dinner, pulled out a seat, sat down, and started contacting him. It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Dad was SO offended...maybe not the most effective missionary effort ever, but...sure was funny!


Christmas Dinner!

Last night, we were knocking doors. I knocked a door and a guy came out. He was nicely dressed in a clean polo shirt and nice jeans...that's pretty rare here, so I naturally thought he was a pastor. Well...I asked him if we could come in and share our message. He said, "Look...we've got a family activity going on right now." So I said that that was fine...we could come back any time! He said "The truth is that we don't live here. We live on the other side of Tiquisate." When I told him that that wasn't a problem either...we can take your address down and go there he got really serious and said, "Look, kid...I don't want to lie to you. The TRUTH is that we read the Bible." As if that were a reason not to talk to us. When he said that, I saw my companion at my side's face go up in one of those, "Riiiiiiiiiight" kind of motions, making the, "Ooooooooh" with his mouth. I swear...at that point I almost lost it. I just love the excuses people use here. Love me some Guatemala.

 



Christmas Jammies!
 

Yesterday we had zone leader counsel with President Brough. He said something that was very interesting. He said, "The three hours in the morning that you have to study get REALLY hard at the end of your mission. Satan ATTACKS them because he doesn't want you going home good at studying the scriptures." and you know what? It's totally true! This hasn't happened to me since my first change back in April of 2012...I actually fell asleep during personal study this week! Nobody even noticed, but I just felt so embarrassed! that NEVER happens to me anymore! But...it did! So...gotta fight it even harder at the end of my mission than I did at the beginning! What fun. 

Well...no mas. Sorry...boring email again this week. Should be an interesting week this week, though...lots of stuff to do with divisions and working with missionaries and meetings...yay! We did get some awesome news this week, though...Elder Cook is coming to do a conference with our mission on the 22nd of January! I am SO excited!!!
Love you all!
Love,

Elder Hopper 1

December 24, 2013

HEEEEELLO FAMILY!!!

Well....first things first...Merry Christmas!!!! I hope you all have a great one, and enjoy the time together in the cold with family and friends!

 

Well, we have had an AWESOME week. I LOVE being Elder Haertel's companion. He's really an awesome missionary, and I'm grateful I get to be his companion. He's just painfully obedient, and I love that about the guy. We just pass the entire day laughing. Seriously...I don't think I've laughed so hard in my entire mission. And the nice part is that we still work SUPER hard. The only problem is when we start laughing in the middle of lessons, and try to hold it in while the other testifies...but we work our way through it. Just now, we were walking to internet, and he started citing, "Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly" then he stopped in his tracks, looked at me very longingly, and said, "Tell me I'm pretty." I seriously couldn't move for about a minute, I was just laughing waaaay too hard. I just love the guy. It's just stupid things like that.

 

Mi queridisisimo Elder Breinholt

We had a cool experience this week though. We are trying to start a branch in a little pueblo about an hour away from our area that's right on the beach called Semillero. We thought we were there, but we need a few more priesthood holders...but we're still working on it! Well, we go there about once a week, and the last bus from Semillero to Tiquisate leaves at 6:00. Well, we got out of our last lesson around 5:50, and realized that we needed to get to the bus NOW! Well...when we got there around 5:55...we watched it drive away. Well...here we were, about an hour away from our area, with the sun going down, and nowhere to go...the only two white people within fifty miles. So...what do we do? We say a prayer! Then we decided to start walking the 7 kilometres or so to get to a little pueblo called Ticanlu, where a member lives. On our way it got DARK. I was a little bit nervous, seeing as we were walking along a somewhat deserted highway alone at night. Well...we said a prayer as we walked, and arrived safely in Ticanlu. And the first person who drives up to us in a pickup truck says, "Are you guys headed to Tiquisate?! Hop in!" And what do you know? Free ride to Tiquisate! Plus...we taught him a lesson on the way! Man...if that's not a good lesson on answered prayers, I don't know WHAT is! 

 

We went to the temple this week for our Christmas activity, and I experienced something that I hadn't experienced in a LOOOOONG time. I went into the bathroom, turned the left faucet, and HOT water came out! Then...I turned off the left knob, turned on the right one, and COLD water came out!! Then...I turned them BOTH on...and LUKEWARM water came out! It's just the small things.

 

The CCM group!

After the temple for the Christmas activity, we went to a stake center in the capitol to play basketball. I still suck. Surprise. But it was fun trying again! After that we had lunch, and I got to see Hermana Brown who was visiting with her family! That was fun! It was like she had never left...like she was just a missionary still! I kept wondering where her plaque was! But afterwards we had the devotional portion of the activity with President Brough talking. The theme of the conference was, "this cup

that my father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" Or something like that...I don't have the reference in front of me, and if I did...it'd be in Spanish. :P Well, he talked all about how we need to be like Christ. Something that struck me was that Christ was TIRED in the end. When He was carrying His cross to be crucified, I can only imagine how he felt! He must have been in SO much pain, and the word tired doesn't even begin to describe it. When Peter offered to help him, all He asked was if He shouldn't take this suffering that His Father had given Him. I want to be more like that. I want to be willing to endure any and all suffering that the Lord asks me to withstand. Shall we not drink the cup that God gives us?  Afterwards, we had an activity. Pres. Brough explained how one dies through crucifixion, how they have to constantly raise himself up on his hands to be able to take a breath, and how eventually one suffocates and dies. Then, he told us that we were going to stand and hold our hands out to our sides for six minutes, just to suffer a liiiiittle tiny bit and feel what He felt. We held our hands out to our sides while we listened to MOTAB sing this is the Christ and watch paintings of Him on the projector. It was so powerful. Towards minute 4 I almost couldn't stand it anymore. Try it. But the Spirit was just so strong. I'm so grateful for what He did for me, so that I can become more like Him. I love being a missionary, and I am doing all I can to be a true representative of Him.


I love you all, have a wonderful Christmas time, and remember the real meaning of this season!

Love,

Elder Hopper 1

December 17, 2013

HEEEELLO FAMILY!!!
They're playing, "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" in Spanish in this internet place. How very, very baggy. Definitely won't be having a blance navidad here! 

 

Well...it was a good week! First off, we had changes! I got my first gringo companion that I've had since...June of 2012! Wow...that is a LOOOOONG time. But the best part is that it's Elder Haertel! I saw his birth in La Sonora some 16 months ago! He's one of my best friends on the mission! It's fun...when they call the zone leader's changes, they go up to the stand so that they can see their whole zone, and see who they are. So...they called the zone Tiquisate, and I knew that my comp was out, so I headed up to the stand alone, and they said, "En Tiquisate uno...Elder Hopper recibe a.......Elder Haertel!!!" And before I could get up to the stand, he knocked me over with this huge hug! It was a pretty epic moment. The whole mission just laughed at us. They were just jealous. The other awesome part about changes is that I got Elder Breinholt in my zone! He moved down to train and die, and he's with me! I'm SO EXCITED about it! It's going to be a sweet change. I just hope we both stay in the zone to die together...we'll see! 

Just took this picture! Love this man!

So, during the change meeting, we had a special treat. President Brough's family came because the very day of changes was his birthday! So his two brothers were there, along with his daughter and wife, which isn't super weird. But his brothers is odd. Well, they got to bear their testimonies. In English, cuz they don't speak Spanish. How convenient it is that I speak English. Well, one of them started out by saying, "Many of you probably think that President Brough can walk on water" We all laughed, thinking that some good story of a President Brough screw up was coming. Well, he then said, "I want you all to know, that I think President Brough can walk on water too. I can't think of ANYTHING that would make this man unworthy in your eyes to hold the position he now holds, and I couldn't think of a better big brother that a man could have." It was such a spiritual moment. The spirit just hit us all like a wall. It really made me think about my brothers, too. And I realized how grateful I am to have brothers who I can honestly say are my very best friends. It was just one of those grateful moments. I'm having a lot of those lately.

 

Also, during changes, I saw one of my converts! Tito Perez from La Sonora! This guy is my pride and joy. I was just SO EXCITED to see him! He was helping the missionaries get their bags to the change meeting, and he started to talk to me about his home teaching families, how he is getting ready to go to the temple, and how incredibly grateful he is that we knocked on his door that day. It was definitely a missionary pay day. Love getting those. They're not too frequent.

 

So, this week...the Jehovah's witnesses knocked on our door. Imagine their surprise when two big, gringo Mormons walked out, nametag and all. The look on his face was PRICELESS. There were two, but one just stood there watching the other, like he was his padawan. We let him do his thing, and we didn't take out the scriptures that I have found throughout the mission that completely destroys the testigos way of thinking, but it was just interesting to have it on the other side of the door contact. They didn't really teach me any doctrine, though. They just told me to read the Bible more, and that I don't read it enough. I was kind of disappointed in the end.

 

Well...all out of time! Love you all! I hope you have a wonderful week before Christmas! 

Love,

Elder Hopper 1

December 10, 2013

First things first.

 

I'm incredibly hungry.

 

There...now that that is out of the way...let's get into the good stuff. 

 

Well, this week we had two baptisms! We love this little family, Carlos and Verali. They are a lot of fun, and the best part is that they live in a house FULL of little kids! I love going there! It was so funny...while we were getting ready for the baptisms, my companion was in the bathroom stall getting dressed in his white clothes. Well...two of the little girls, probably about 5 and 6 came into the guys bathroom. Just waaaaaltzed right on in. Well...there was something in there that they had never seen before. A urinal. While I was trying to usher one of them out of the men's bathroom, the other one went and tried to figure out what it was! She turned to me with innocent eyes and asked, "Hopper, ¿Que es eso?" at which point she turned around, and sat down on it, trying to use it like a toilet. It was...hilarious. I just warned my companion to lock the door, and let them have their fun with these new creations that they had never seen. I didn't really know what to do...

 

So, the closer we get to Christmas, and ESPECIALLY on weekends, there are more and more drunks in the street! Well...last Saturday night, which is the hot night for drunks, this drunk guy came up to us and said, "Look...you guys just walk WAY. TOO. FAST. Do you EVER rest?!" That's a rough translation...but it was just a funny moment. I love drunk people. The fun ones. Some are just angry, though, and I don't like those.

 

I have come to the realization again this week of how incredibly grateful I am for everything. I just want you all to look around you, and realize how comfortable you are, and how INCREDIBLY blessed you are. I am so grateful for this opportunity that I have to be a missionary here for, if nothing else, to be the most grateful human being on the face of the planet. It's kind of hard to adequately express in words, but I'm just grateful.

 

I've been studying lately the difference between being a consecrated missionary vs. an obligated missionary. Many people come on missions because they feel obligated to do so, but if we really want to become CONSECRATED to the Lord, and His work, we need to find a MUCH deeper reason to work like we do.  Well, I found a scripture that I LOVED that talks about this. It is in 2 Nefi 2:1-3. It talks all about how the sufferings of his childhood consecrated his life to the work of God, but even after that he had to be obedient and diligent. This week in the ZL counsel President talked about his main goal for his missionaries is that they leave the mission being consecrated, and saved. It was a super powerful moment when he said, "I want EVERY SINGLE MISSIONARY to be in the Celestial kingdom. From the most disobedient, to the hardest workers. I want them ALL there, and it is YOUR job as leaders to help me make that happen." So...there is a BIG difference in being a consecrated missionary and being an obligated missionary, and I want to be that consecrated missionary. President in my last interview talked a lot about me consecrating my mission to the Lord in these last three months that I have, so...that's what I'll do! Just gotta work harder!

 

This is a Guatemalan dressing room in middle of a crowded market.

Love you all. Have an awesome Christmas. Enjoy the tranquility of it all. Here, it's the loudest day of the year. It's quite a difference, the culture. But...I'll most certainly love the tamales, and the ponche, and all the fireworks!

Love you!
Love,

Elder Hopper NUMBER ONE!!! HA!!! 

P.S...I hope everyone went to watch the Christmas devotional by the church...it was fantastic! If you didn't...go back and watch it again! Isn't internet the greatest?

December 3, 2013

I AM OFFICIALLY ELDER HOPPER NUMBER OOOOONE!!!!!! YEEEEEEESSS!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is all. 

We had a good week this week! Let me start off with the funny stories, then we'll get to the hair raising Elder-Hopper-almost-dies ones.

 

Well, we taught a guy this week. He was a paraplegic. He had an accident about...five years ago, and since then has been in a wheelchair without use of his legs. Well, I have a line that I always say at the end of a lesson to invite people to pray. I say, "Entonces, hermano, despues de leer, usted se arrodillará y preguntará a Dios si lo que le hemos compartido es cierto?" Well...for those of you who have brushed up on your Spanish...that's pretty offensive to a guy who doesn't have use of his legs. I invite you to use Google translator to figure it out, and laugh at my misfortune. I felt terrible about it. But at least it's a good story, right?!

 

So, on Saturday night we had two baptismal interviews. After the interviews, we were walking to go to work! We were walking down the main intersection against traffic, when this motorcycle going about 25 layed it right over in front of us. The motorcycle skidded to a stop like...ten feet in front of us. If that doesn't get your adrenaline pumping, I don't know WHAT will! Well, we ran mover to the guy, and wouldn't you know it...drunk as a skunk. Like...REEEEALLY drunk. He had basically face planted and skidded on his face for about 30 feet, completely RIPPING it up, he was bleeding all over the place. But the good thing was that he was REALLY drunk, so he didn't feel it. Well, the crowd that had then gathered and I dragged his bloody stinky drunk body to the curb along with his motorcycle, and while I got someone to call the police, he hopped right back onto his motorcycle! He's a bright one. Thankfully, I had seen where his key was hanging off his motorcycle on a cord, so I grabbed it. He didn't like that. So we had a tug of war over his keys. Thankfully, the fifteen people or so that were around helped me grab it from him. Well, my companion cannot see blood without basically tossing cookies, so...he was off talking to some people around the accident, and these two girls came up to him. I'm glad I've got an obedient companion, or we might have had problems. Well, it turns out that basically the entire crowd that had gathered thought that this drunk guy had been trying to rob the gringo! And that I beat the living tar out of him! Well...thankfully, that wasn't the case...maybe some other day.

 

One more drunk guy story, and we'll call it quits for this week. We were knocking doors, when we knocked a door with a drunk guy sitting right next to it. He was...a weirdo. He kept saying, "I'm a WITCH! When you want that frog in your stomach, you come call me! Cuz I'm a WITCH!!!! I'll get'im in there for you!" Somewhat roughly translated...it was a funny one. Little less dramatic, but funny nonetheless.

Foto de zona

Next week we should be baptizing a family! Take THAT, Adam! You're home, but I'M BAPTIZING A FAMILY!!! :) Love you all, and I hope you have a wonderful week!!!!

Con DEMASIADO amor,
Elder Hopper NUMERO UNO!!!!